Weight The Myth of Atlas and Heracles

by Winterson, Jeanette

• ISBN13: 9781841957180
• ISBN10: 1841957186
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-05
• Publisher: Canongate U.S.

Summary

"In ancient Greek mythology Atlas, a member of the original race of gods called Titans, leads a rebellion against the new deities, the Olympians. For this he incurs divine wrath: the victorious Olympians force Atlas, guardian of the Garden of Hesperides and its golden apples of life, to bear the weight of the earth and the heavens for eternity. When the hero Heracles, as one of his famous twelve labors, is tasked with stealing these apples he seeks out Atlas, offering to shoulder the world temporarily if the Titan will bring him the fruit. Knowing that Heracles is the only person with the strength to take his burden, and enticed by the prospect of even a short-lived freedom, Atlas agrees and an uneasy partnership is born."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xiii
I want to tell the story again	1	(8)
Weight of the World	9	(18)
Heracles	27	(20)
Thought-Wasp	47	(16)
Three Golden Apples	63	(14)
No Way Out . . .	77	(8)
But Through	85	(10)
Leaning on the Limits of Myself	95	(6)
Private Mars	101	(6)
Hero of the World	107	(14)
Woof!	121	(8)
Boundaries	129	(6)
Desire	135	(12)
I want to tell the story again	147